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Book MCol h 

presenti;d by 



airabuatifltt af OUaaa of '94 
N?m fork Imo^mtg 



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JJattnnal ifmotrattr ®l«b 
Nfm inrk CUttg 



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WtlintBUvi, Mn^ 2B, 1919 



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1894 — 1919 



Edited and Compiled by Moses H; Grossman, LL. B. 



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TO 



"A wonderful stream is the River Time, 

As it runs through the realm of Tears, 
With a faultless rhythm, and a musical rhyme, 
And a broader sweep, and a surge sublime. 
As it blends with the ocean of Years." 

Benjamin F. Taylor. 




Z5ay if remembrance days like ineee endears 
Beyond ine raipiure of succeeding years? 
Gay can ambition's fevered dream besfow'" 
So sweef a balm fo soothe your fiours of w&e -' 
Can ireasures, fioarded for some "f nankless son.. 
Can royal smiles or wreamg by slaueftter Won, 
Can sfar or ermine, man's maiurer toys 
(For^litiermp baubles are not left to boys), 
"fjecall one scene so mucfi beloved to vieW 
As tnosewnen Yiuth iier carland tv/ined for you? 




A 



HEL ©ILUNIOI^ 

"wednesd/^y; iviA^ 2 6 ,131c) 




On the evening of Wednesday, May 28th, 1919, a large 
number of our classmates assembled at the National Democratic 
Club, Fifth Avenue, New York City. 



AHer iniGrmal e^reetinD''s were 




r-^-E-N 





Scallions 



Cucumbers 

Saddle of Spring Lamb 

AsparaJ^us Tips 

Breast of Guinea Hen with 

Lettuce and Tomat< 

Strawberries, Chs 

Camembert Cheese 

Coffee 
Cocktails Cigarettes Se^a 





liGrcnanj/ed 

^pas^: was next in order 



Olives 



arisienne Potatoes 
Jelly 







very oracciuir 
tunciions oi Q 



oyr 




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er SOUPS by Harry A r mi 
\ oweet Acleline ana otKer t 

jne more Tormai proc^ 



oT Ine eVenin 




iisckarpea the 

ioasimaster 

(iurin^ me evenine 



t^ i n' i i i rj | . i j | p 



f 



>n^ tHe composer 



j.lar pieces 



dines 



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• • • 




Kntrnburttntt 

It is not easily possible after a lapse of years to he able 
to resume the delightful intimacies of youth. Viewpoints change 
too much zvith the passage of time. But the stimulation of the 
memory zvhich comes from meeting youthful companions again 
makes the reunion profitable, for mem,ory is one of our most 
fruitful sources of pleasure and there is often satisfaction even 
in recalling incidents that at the time of their occurrence were 
far from agreeable. 

Since Law 'p4 left Alma Mater's classic shades, a quarter 
of a century has wended its remorseless way into the realms 
of the past. Within that period have occurred the mightiest 
changes in the zvorld's affairs since history has been recorded. 

The map of the zvorld has been transformed. Dynasties and 
kings have been overthrozvn and dogmas and doctrines zvhich 
threaten the pillars of our civilisation have menacingly made 
their advent. 

Far and zvide have our classmates gone, striving in the 
lazv's arena 'midst all the tumult and the shouting to uphold its 
noblest traditions and to stand unszvervingly for the support of 
our beloved institutions, since that fateful day zuhen, at the door 
of the University, they bade each other farewell and God-speed! 
Fortune has crozvned many with the laurels of undying fame 
and enriched them with golden rewards. Others of our brethren, 
less favored, but none the less beloved, have fallen by the way- 
side. Those zvho still remain, inspired by fond memories of the 
light of college days, at the summons of our Valedictorian, have 
once again gathered about the festive board to lay aside, for a 
brief moment, the graver tasks of the day and renew the friend- 
ships of those youthful, happy times. 

This little book is the record of that joyous occasion. 



PROCEEDINGS 

The Toastmaster : Twenty-five years ago there was consid- 
erable raw material at Washington Square. At that time the 
future of the Class of '94 was deposited in the hands of our 
Class Historian. All that he had in mind as a matter of prophecy 
he emitted at that time, and it was looked upon with more or less 
levity and amusement. 

I have been asked where some of these gentlemen to-night 
were at the time and I find that all those who are present 
graduated in '94. The old building was torn down after we 
left and a change came in the management of the law school. 
Our class had the honor of having the last elected class vale- 
dictorian. At that time it was an honor that was obtained largely 
through strife. 

We agreed that the best man won and he had it. We are 
greatly indebted to that event, for it is due to the wonderful spirit 
of the man who was our valedictorian that we have been called 
together so successfully to-night. (Applause.) 

I wish to pay a tribute to the wisdom of the class in select- 
ing Moses H. Grossman as its valedictorian, for there could have 
been no more loyal friend to the Class of '94 than he has proven 
to be. 

Jacob M. Guedalia was the Class Historian at that time. 
I don't know whether he has brought his records with him, but 
he had a very lively imagination. (Laughter.) 

He was gifted even then with eloquence and I think it would 
be most interesting for him to call on the storehouses of his 
memory for his prophecies of the day, even if they may be tem- 
pered by the fulfillment of twenty-five years. 



Jacob M. Guedalia : Mr. Toastmaster and Boys — That is 
about the only way I feel I can adequately express my sentiments 



towards you, because when I look at the happy faces of the boys 
around me to-night the past twenty-five years roll up like a 
scene. The past disappears, and I can picture to myself the 
old building at Washington Square and the trials and struggles, 
the hopes and ideals, of which we were all possessed at that 
time. 

Would that I had sufficient eloquence to pay a fitting tribute 
of affection to our host, Moses H. Grossman, but no feeble 
words of mine can do the subject justice. We all know Moe 
Grossman and, knowing him, love him. 

I don't care to rely upon the storehouses of my memory, for 
I am still somewhat old-maidish in my practice of harboring 
and saving every old scrap of paper connected with events for 
which I have fondness and affection. In rummaging through 
some of my old papers I came across a copy of the History of 
the Class of '94 published in The Violet at that time. Violet 
is so proper a color, so near the purple; and the purple, what 
shall I say, of royalty, or pretty nearly that, has rested upon 
the shoulders of some of our class. The Class of '94 need not 
be ashamed of the personnel of its members. 

But I am not here to make a speech. 1 am going to read 
that little squib I wrote in 1894, and like plays which are revived 
after years, I wonder if, after these years, it will sound anything 
like it did at that time. Like an old man, I have to put on my 
glasses (laughter) while I read you the article: 

" '94 Law History 

"Never did a class assemble in the historic old structure 
on East Washington Square with more determination to dazzle 
the universe with its wealth of legal learning than the Class 
of '94. 

"Each individual member has made a solemn declaration 
to himself that he will remember the accounts of the personal 
experiences of the learned professor whose lectures are sprinkled 
so plentifully with them, and in a measure profit thereby. Can 
more be asked or expected of aspiring students? 

"It has been said, and rightly, that all good things appear 
in a combination of three, and the Class of '94 can offer nothing 



in refutation of this popular fancy. The presence of three 
charming young ladies would in itself remove the musty odor 
that clings about the books borrowed from the office shelves, even 
if Miss Voos was not sometimes provided with choice exotics, 
which she so generously distributes. It is known that there is a 
picture of Miss Richardson somewhere in existence, but, owing 
to that young lady's excessive modesty, it will not grace the 
pages of this publication. 

"The class of '94 has made a departure at once unique and 
fortunate. Unique because contrary to precedent, and fortunate 
because wise. The care of dealing with turbulent filibusters in 
the intricacies of parliamentary wrangles has been entrusted to 
Miss Florence H. Dangerfield, and to her credit be it said that 
this young lady is the personification of dignity and stands up 
for her rights Mike a man.' 

. "Pleasant to relate, the conferring of judicial honors upon 
a number of our classmates has not rendered them less convivial 
as associates around the festive board, and it is to be hoped 
that the careful preparation of opinions will teach them to be 
doubly careful about expressing them. 

"It would be difficult to estimate the extraordinary amount 
of care and trouble that has confronted Lovatt in his efiforts 
to organize a class glee club. Lovatt possesses a beautiful 
onion tenor and Leslie a deep garlic bass. Both have very 
strong voices and aid the janitor materially in keeping the cor- 
ridor free of loungers. 

"Hendrickson has gained a reputation as a consumer — of 
cigarettes. It matters not if a lecture has started before he has 
finished charging his person with nicotine and, besides, to inter- 
rupt brings one prominently into notice. 

"What the members of the class would do without Czaki 
is a contingency that is even too horrible to contemplate in the 
abstract. When Czaki nods approval — note it with large capitals 
— rest assured that no adjudication can ever modify anything 
which is stamped with his mark as being good law. 

"There is a mountain of strength in 'Baby' Hill, whose 
sole aim in life is to catch an early train, except when scholarly 
Lippincott teases him, and then, in a moment of mistaken en- 
thusiasm, he would like to punch Baird's innocent head. 



10 



I 




11 



"Yes, the class of '94 is quite an institution. It being com- 
posed of individuals unmistakably brilliant, surprising and puz- 
zling, the members thereof do not intend to conceal their light — 
no, not even in a hogshead. 

"Not content with the opportunities offered by a week's vaca- 
tion during the Christmas holidays, a banquet was given on the 
5th day of January at Morello's. It was a successful affair, 
and the attendance at Moot Court on the day following was very 
slim. Credit for the affair belongs to Hahn, he of the springy 
step and summery manner. 

"Many interesting features are expected to be developed in 
the near future, in which event the class of '94 will again be 
heard from. And with the hope to be held memoria in aeterna, 
say 'Auf Wiedersehen.' " (Applause.) 



The Toastmaster : Look around and recognize history. We 
have grown up more or less, and out more or less, and from the 
top more or less. (Laughter.) I am going to take this oppor- 
tunity to recall to you two or three of our members who would 
like to have been here, but are unavoidably absent. 

(After reading letters of regret from absentees, the Toast- 
master continued:) 

Edward Sandford, who is well known and thought of by 
all of us, although, according to his birth certificate, ineligible 
for service to the United States, by some fiction managed to fix 
his papers correctly and went through the Plattsburg Camp and 
obtained a commission and has been in France since July last 
year. He is at present in charge of the Remount Station of the 
United States Army in France, and from his last letter — he 
has not yet had a chance to answer my invitation — he said it 
looked to him as if he would be there until the indemnity was 

13 



collected. (Laughter.) As soon as it seems as if there were 
an opportunity for him to be demobilized some new job turns 
up. to which he is assigned. So he is still on the front line in 
France. 

The reference to these women who were in our class, 
then young girls, brings to my mind the fact that I have been 
unable to obtain any answer from the former Miss Voos, who 
married a noted newspaper artist by the name of Hayden Jones. 
Hei letters were returned "Not Found." 

Miss Dangerfield became Mrs. Potter, and she wrote a 
short note, saying: "I thank you, but the form of your invi- 
tation seems so to contradict its substance that, being perhaps 
the only surviving woman graduate of the class of '94, I feel 
constrained to absence." I don't know what I said. (Laughter.) 
Lulu Richardson did not take a degree, I understand, but she 
took a Justice of the Supreme Court, a member of our class, 
Charles H. Kelby. And, furthermore, she took him away from 
us to-night. I was talking with her on the telephone and she 
said Charles had been ill for over a week and their son was to 
graduate from St. Paul's School in New Hampshire and they 
were going to-day to attend that ceremony. Otherwise she would 
have allowed him to be present. (Laughter.) 

Simon Noot wrote an answer to my invitation in which he 
explained that he is in a position that keeps him traveling 
on the road and he will be unable in any way to get anywhere 
near New York at this time, and sends his best wishes and 
remembrances to all at the dinner. 

There are many names that are missing, but those the lapse 
of time and the hand of nature seem to account for. I regret most 
exceedingly that I have not been able to get in touch with all 
who, I am sure, are living, and I hope that before we meet again 
we will not have to say that we do not know where our members 
are. And while now addressing you I want to ask you all to 
be sure to give me a photograph of yourself as near to the 
present Anno Domini as possible, as it is designed to place this 
dinner and its various happenings in a memorial or souvenir form, 
to be distributed later, and we want the photograph of every man 
and also such information as I modestly requested in a letter to 
you all when I first broached this subject to you. 

14 








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Bill Quigley was not mentioned as one of our sweet singers, 
but I understand that when he gets down on his low bass notes 
that it is not a sight for the gods, but words to that effect. And 
if Mr. Armstrong can "Rock Him in the Cradle of the Deep," 
we will be very glad to have Bill show us how it is done. (Ap- 
plause.) 



Mr. Quigley then sang "Rocked in the Cradle of the Deep" 
and was heartily applauded. 



The Toastmaster: In this souvenir, of which you have all 
a copy, there is one sentiment which I find it pleasantly opens 
to. Under the head of "Auld Lang Syne" appear the words, 
"Don't trouble yourself much to get new things, whether clothes 
or friends. Turn to the old. Return to them" — a very happy 
thought, I think, for this evening, and one which I hope will 
be followed more frequently in the future than we have in the 
past. I trust that this reunion dinner, which has waited so long 
to have its fruition, will be the inspiration and the cause of the 
continuance of reunions at more frequent intervals as time goes 
on. (Applause.) Someone said that there was a place forty- 
five minutes from Broadway, but it took one of our classmates 
to be the first judge of that place, and that is Van Zelm, and 
as Van Zelm is with us he may tell us why. 



John A. Van Zelm : Mr. Toastmaster and Fellow-members 
of '94: I did not come here expecting to be called upon to say 
anything, because I am from the country. We call it the country, 
although we are forty-five minutes from Broadway. When I 
look back twenty-five years I think of Moe Grossman. I was 
always in trouble at the University. (Laughter.) Always in 
a hole; always in trouble. I used to go and look up Moe Gross- 
man; go into the library — I would have some moot case to 
look up — I'd look up Moe Grossman and Moe would help 
me out. At that time I was employed by Mr. Keogh, now 
Supreme Court Justice, and I continued in his employ from ihe 

19 



time I was thirteen years of age. He sent me to the New York 
University Law School because he graduated from the New 
York University himself — I think away back in '76 or '77 — and 
young Judge Leslie was there at that time. At that time he 
was called Ike Leslie (laughter) and Professor Jessup was there, 
too. I recall being at the University from '93 to '94. Then 
the time came for examinations and I was in a lot of difficulty 
and I was not going to graduate, apparently, as there seemed 
to be some difficulty about it. I went to Moe Grossman and I 
said, "Here, Moe, let us go in the library. I can't see where 
I am wrong on these propositions at all." Result : I had to go 
down to Professor Russell's office, down Broadway, all by my 
lonesome, to take a separate examination down there, because 
there seemed to be some difficulty among the boys. I was al- 
ways in trouble. I said, "All right, you're in trouble once more; 
go ahead." (Laughter.) Well, I graduated anyway. 

Now, talking about country law practice. Professor Russell 
used to tell us, you know, about having a summons issued and 
what you should do, and all that sort of thing. And then we had 
Jessup on Surrogate's Practice. 

I was always trying to get around to Moe Grossman to 
get a little information ; he was always digging there at the 
books. I remember a moot case on riparian rights — because at 
that time Mr. Keogh was attorney for the New Rochelle Water 
Company. (Laughter.) I said, "Moe, here is a case. I am 
right in the office, blamed if I can prepare a brief on that sort of 
thing. Moe, help me out on those riparian rights." Moe cer- 
tainly did. 

Now, getting back to the country lawyer coming down to 
New York. With all due respect to Judge Rosalsky (laughter) 
he did treat me shamefully. (Laughter.) There was a fellow 
up in Harlem. All he was charged with was merely shooting 
a man. The bullet went through the shoulder. I went to ex- 
Sheriff Foley and I said, "Tom, I've got to get a bail bond for 
this fellow." I telephoned to the ex-Sherift" and he said, "All 
right, I'll send over Burns from the Club and he'll go on his 
bond." He went on the bond, although I was a Republican. 
(Laughter.) But, still, the ex-Sheriff went on the bond. Event- 
ually the case was called to trial and I was dumbfounded — be- 

20 





22 



cause Jerome was District Attorney at the time and I thought 
the thing was finished. (Laughter.) I was called to trial. 
Jerome was out of office. (Laughter.) I said, "What am I 
going to do, a country lawyer come down here to New York." 
My client — I couldn't find him; he had simply moved away, 
that's all. (Laughter.) I appeared in court and I went and 
saw the then District Attorney. It wasn't Jerome. And we 
agreed, as we do in Westchester County, over the telephone, 
to adjourn the matter. On the adjourned day, lo and behold! I 
had to appear in court again. That surprised me very much, that I 
should have to appear for a defendant, and Judge Rosalsky said, 
"Why, you have deceived the Court." (Laughter.) I said, "I 
beg your pardon. I do not know if I have. I may be very 
stupid. I'm from Westchester County." And Judge Rosalsky 
immediately declared the $2,500 bond forfeited. (Laughter.) 
Well, then I was in a predicament. This is only a few years 
ago. I was in a terrible predicament. I went over to Tom 
Foley. I said, "Why, Rosalsky said that that bond is forfeited. 
$'?,500 !" "Well," Foley said to me, "that puts me in a fine posi- 
tion, doesn't it?" I said, "Yes." (Laughter.) He said, "Well, 
let's go to work and perhaps we can find this fellow." I said, 
"I'll tell you, Tom, I've spent at least $250 trying to locate this 
defendant. I haven't been able to locate him." Forty-eight 
hours afterwards they located a defendant. (Laughter.) The 
bail bond was reinstated and the defendant — I think Tom Mc- 
Manus defended him — he was acquitted. (Laughter.) 

Now, getting down to the facts. With all due respect to 
our ex-Governor— the ex-Governor has not known me at all — • 
but we did have — perhaps you don't know it — but I have been 
attorney for some breweries for some twenty odd years. (Laugh- 
ter.) Ruppert's and Schaeffer's, etc., and we had a closed sea- 
son in New Rochelle. (Laughter.) Well, the Governor was 
very nice, with the consent of the Commissioners, to close those 
saloons. Well, then the time came that the raw recruits had 
to get out of New Rochelle and be taken care of, but with all 
due respect to the ex-Governor he made a grand statement on 
that day when we were trying to reopen these saloons in New 
Rochelle, although he was a Prohibitionist (laughter). The 
then Governor said, "Gentlemen, we have made a contract" — 



and I think I stated to the Governor at the time that we have 
a contract with the State of New York; these people have paid 
a Hcense of $1,000 per year and they could do business under 
certain conditions provided they obeyed the law and unless some 
contingency arose (if I am wrong, Governor, you can correct 
me) — ^the Governor said, "If those contingencies arise the Excise 
Commissioner has the right, with the consent of the Governor, 
to close the places during that contingency," and the Governor 
said, "Gentlemen, now that contingency no longer exists. There- 
fore, I feel that the State should keep faith with these men 
who have paid their money, as it is a contract between the State 
and those men." And the Governor ordered these saloons opened 
the following morning. (Applause.) 
Am I right, Governor? 

Ex-GovERNOR Whitman : That is correct. 



The Toastmaster: If Judge Van Zelm had followed in 
his later tracks the course of his earlier years, he would have 
met with more immediate success, because if he had gone to 
Moe Grossman he probably would not have had that difficulty 
with the bail bond. (Laughter.) If you are a little shaky 
yet in the law, Moe is still alive. I hope that you will remember 
it when another contingency arises. 

It is always good form to allow a person who is accused to 
answer. Judge Rosalsky is here in the flesh and I think he 
is able to give another view to the very serious situation which 
resulted. so fortunately to Brother Van Zelm. 



Judge Otto A. Rosalsky: Before I proceed to answer 
Brother Van Zelm, I feel that it might be appropriate to indulge 
in some of the reminiscences through which we passed in our 
early career. 

Judge Grossman might be deeply interested, to-morrow 
morning, in discussing the subject of the Statute of Limitations. 

24 





25 





26 



(Laughter.) And that's no jest, either. When Brother Lip- 
pincott referred to the circumstances under which Grossman was 
elected as the class Valedictorian of the Law School of the 
University of '94, with the result that he was the last class 
Valedictorian who was elected since that time — let me briefly re- 
late to you the circumstances. (Laughter.) As you all know, 
I have always been a very active Republican, and when I met 
Grossman I discovered the true reason why the old Eighth Dis- 
trict, year after year, elected Democrats to office. (Laughter.) 
He looked over the class list and discovered that we were behind 
four votes and he said, "Otto, how can we get four votes?" 
(Laughter.) I says, "Moe, I don't know how to buy votes. 
The political party with which you are affiliated (laughter) seems 
to have a monopoly on that fertile field." (Laughter.) So we 
looked over the list and discovered that some of the boys had 
matriculated, but had failed to pay their tuition fees. (Laugh- 
ter.) Moe had them give notes, which we slipped to Brother 
Tompkins ; the members were fully matriculated ; they voted and 
Moe was elected. (Laughter.) Now, you know, Moe delivered 
a great valedictorian address on that occasion. It was written 
by Jacob Guedalia and myself. (Laughter.) And after that 
address was written we went to Carnegie Hall to see whether 
Moe's voice would reach the uppermost gallery. I got up in 
the gallery. Guedalia acted as the prompter, and we finally dis- 
covered that Moe was capable of memorizing what we had 
written. (Laughter.) Well, now, it seems to me that the dis- 
tinguished Professors who are here this evening have certainly 
mustered courage to attend the reunion of the class of '94. In 
those days they taught us what they thought was the law. But 
when we got at the Bar we soon discovered that the things that 
they had taught us were, in fact, not the law. (Laughter.) Pro- 
fessor Jessup, as I recall, used to teach us the Surrogates' law. 

Interruption : Torts. 

Judge Rosalsky: Oh, I see, I am wrong. 

A Voice: The same thing. (Laughter.) 

Judge Rosalsky : That is why he has so distinguished him- 
self as a writer on the law of Surrogates' Practice. (Laughter.) 
I recall having a case against Professor Jessup shortly after 

27 



my admission to the bar. It was in a proceeding to issue an 
execution against the decedent's estate. The Professor brought 
the proceedings, as I recall, in the City Court, and I appeared 
there with "J^ssup on Surrogates' Practice" and moved for a 
dismissal upon the ground that the proceeding should first have 
been instituted in the Surrogates' Court, and that motion was 
granted by Surrogate Thomas. 

Now, to Professor Russell I am greatly indebted for one 
thing. He taught me the definition of a fact. I was questioned 
once by DeLancey Nicoll and as a result I was appointed as 
one of the counsel to assist Judge Sutherland, of Rochester. In 
the course of my testimony I had stated that a certain occur- 
rence was a fact — and DeLancey Nicoll, in a flash, said to me, 
"What is a fact?" Well, I defined a fact according to the defi- 
nition given by Russell and the result was that I was appointed 
assistant to Judge Sutherland. Then we occasionally crossed 
swords with our friend Professor Bostwick. And I must pay 
this compliment to Judge MacLean, that all the Criminal Law 
that Quigley knows, and Grossman and George Davison, who 
was Assistant District Attorney, and our friend who is in Staten 
Island, and myself, we learned at his feet, and we are doubly 
grateful to him for the knowledge which he has imparted to 
us. Now it was Meighan who once classified lawyers — I think 
he did so at the Morello dinner — as follows: Said he, "There 
are three classes of lawyers: the law professor, the man who 
teaches law; the law writer, the man who writes law; and the 
advocate, the one who tries cases. The most equipped of all 
must be the advocate. The fellow that cannot try a case, teaches 
law ; the fellow who can neither try a case nor teach law, writes 
the law." (Laughter.) 

Now, Judge Van Zelm, I have no recollection of the cir- 
cumstances referred to by you, but it seems to me that you have 
paid, not the individual who acted on that occasion, but justice 
itself, the compliment that it was not even tilted when a brother 
student of the University appeared before me. But I agree 
with Brother Whitman, the District Attorney at the time, that 
I have signally failed in the performance of my duty. What 
I should have done was to commit the counsel instead of for- 
feiting the bail bond. (Laughter.) 

28 




29 



Ihefe are three kinds ol lawyers 



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121.814 Lawyers* . ... 375.00 

88.261 " Responsible I . 75.00 

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3,540 *' Prom. mid Leading 15.00 

515 " 'So. &C.Aii».,\v!l.5.00 

583 *• Women . . 10.00 

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30 



Mr. Van Zelm : I was very glad when I got out of New 
York City and when I heard the conductor say, "New Rochelle 
next," I was very glad indeed that I was there and not in jail, 
because I think Whitman was District Attorney and he dug this 
old indictment up. 



Judge Rosalsky: Now, I had a very interesting experience 
with Brother Leslie when he first practised law. He came to 
me and said that he would like the opportunity to defend a 
man charged with murder. I gave him the opportunity. His 
client looked at him, went back to the Tombs and committed 
suicide. (Laughter.) 

Our distinguished host appears before me very frequently, 
and one day he placed me in a very embarrassing position. Moe 
appeared for a young woman charged with crime and he thought 
the shortest way to freedom was to have her plead guilty, 
which she did. In questioning her, I asked her the usual ques- 
ticns. I said, "Madam, haven't I seen you before," thinking, pos- 
sibly, that she was an old offender, and Grossman replied, "Yes, 
your Honor." The next question, I thought, would elicit an 
irmocuous answer, and here is what took place. I said, "Where," 
and Grossman stammered out, "That would be tellings, your 
Honor; that would be tellings, your Honor." (Laughter.) 

It has been my great pleasure and privilege to have Pro- 
fessor Bostwick and Professor Tompkins appear before me, but 
I prefer not to say too much of the Professors of the law. 
(Laughter.) I don't want to interrupt the orderly proceedings. 
Were I to lay bare some of the acts of these Professors of the 
lav in the trial of criminal cases — (Laughter.) 

Shortly after my admission to the bar it was my good for- 
tune to have been appointed a Deputy Assistant District Attor- 
ney, and in the course of my investigation of a very important 
criminal case, Grossman appeared for the defendant. I went 
into the case with great care, only to discover that the County 
of New York had no jurisdiction to prosecute the defendant, 
and I notified Judge Olcott, who was my superior, to commu- 
nicate with District Attorney Youngs, of Queens County, which 
he did. It was then that Brother Davison was also a prosecutor 



31 



in Queens County and he came over to New York County and 
said, "For God's sake, keep that murder case here ; we never had 
one in Queens County before." I agreed to go over to Queens 
County to assist in the prosecution of that case, and showed 
Davison 180 affidavits. He said, "How can one marshal all that 
and intelligently present it to the Court and jury?" I said, 
"That's very easy, if Queens County agrees to compensate me 
for my services." And, Moe, I will retain you to collect the 
fees. (Laughter.) Grout's brother was Comptroller at the time 
and he refused to honor the bill, on the ground that New 
York County was then merged into the Greater City of New 
York, and so I was never paid. And I held this out on Davison. 
I gave him the affidavits, but the brief of facts I had prepared 
in book form and kept for myself. In the meantime a very 
important prosecution had taken place against the American 
Tobacco Company. I was in the case. George held onto the 
affidavits, but I kept my book, a brief of the facts, and tried 
that case. 

Well, our relations have been very pleasant. I fully appre- 
ciate that economy of time is very important and I have 
spoken a little too long. I desire to make just one or two 
observations. 

It is a real pleasure to be with you to-night. The Uni- 
versity class of '94 has indeed cause to be proud. Whether 
you take that class collectively or individually, you will find 
men among them who possess the qualities which are essential 
for a lawyer in order to succeed in life. They are men known 
for their probity and purity of motive and high purpose, and 
among our class we have several men who have risen in life 
and who have achieved fame and distinction. When we turn 
to Governor Whitman (applause), who, in our class, has achieved 
the greatest fame and distinction of any of its members, we feel 
that in his membership the class of '94 will be always remem- 
bered. He has served this State with honor and distinction as 
a Governor, as a Judge of the Court of General Sessions, as a 
City Magistrate and as District Attorney, and to each of the 
offices which he occupied he brought great learning and capacity 
for real constructive work. 



32 




33 



Grossman started out as a boy from the East Side. He 
demonstrated that he has abiHty and capacity and has taken 
advantage of the innumerable opportunities which this country 
affords to every youth who cannot boast of an ancestry except- 
ing that he comes from a stock which uphold those ideals for 
which we all strive in this country. 

But his rise in life has been due to his own effort. He 
had nobody to go to or to point his way and his success at the 
Bar is well known. He is noted for being a brilliant lawyer, 
a student of the law, one who is capable of presenting the in- 
terests of his client in a way to merit the confidence and the 
esteem of the bench and bar. 

Grossman, if he had followed his own ideals — you see, I 
have always been his political mentor — possibly would have re- 
mained an Assistant District Attorney or a Deputy Assistant 
District Attorney. You know he has great ability and under- 
stands the arts of politics. He came to^ me one day and said, 
"There is an opportunity for you to become the managing clerk 
of House, Grossman & Vorhaus. You have me appointed a 
Deputy Assistant District Attorney by John R. Fellows." I said, 
"Why, he is a Republican." He said, "You are vice-president 
of the County Committee and you can have Judge Murray" (who 
was then Chairman of the County Committee) "approve of my 
recommendation and Fellows will appoint me." We got the 
recommendation from Judge Murray and Moe was appointed but 
I advised him not to take it. It reminds me of the story of a 
Jewish sexton who could neither read nor write and therefore 
lost his position. He applied for another position and was asked 
whether he could read or write. He answered that he could not 
and his application was therefore rejected. Finally he succeeded 
in life. One day he went to the bank to discount a note and was 
asked by the bank president to sign the note. He said, "I can't 
write " The bank president looked at him in amazement. "How 
is it," he said, "you made such a wonderful success ; you are a 
man in business and command so many hundreds of thousands of 
dollars? You mingle with business men who are the leaders in 
the City. How is it?" And the man answered, "I will tell you. 
If I had learned how to read or write I would have been a sexton 
in the synagogue." (Laughter.) 



35 



So with Moe. If he had gone as Deputy Assistant Dis- 
trict Attorney he would probably have remained there. Of 
course, Moe was honored as a City Magistrate. I have had 
occasion to pass upon his records and I dealt with them with 
charity and mercy. (Laughter.) 

Gentlemen, I again desire to express to you my thanks and 
appreciation for being invited to come here, and I assure you 
that I would not have missed this evening no matter how 
other important engagements may have demanded my time. I 
trust that we will have occasions similar to this, where we can 
meet again, so as to become more intimately acquainted. Twenty- 
five years have been a very long span. Some of us have been 
unable to identify our photographs. I think that the spirit which 
moved us to meet to-night ought to be developed along lines 
where we shall meet more frequently, and until then I hope and 
pray that each and every one of you will enjoy prosperity, longev- 
ity and happiness. (Applause.) 



The Toastmaster: If I had known that stories would be 
told so leading in character, I think I might have been tempted 
to ask a professional story-teller to relate them, and not Rosalsky. 

We are very fortunate in this respect, that those who are 
our guests this evening cannot be shocked by any revelation we 
can make, and with such charming appreciation at the end 
of each speech, softening the blows that are given during it, we 
all may feel a certain amount of complacency that as yet we 
have not been truly discovered. 

We have Mr. Willis, a story-teller of the modem Arabian 
Nights style, and if he will be so kind I would like to have 
him favor us. 

Mr. Willis : This is the first time I ever got in front of 
so many Judges at one time. (Laughter.) 

Mr. Willis then proceeded with a number of unusually orig- 
inal and witty anecdotes. 

36 







37 



? 

rovernoir 

<JuB6e o£Cout\ 
_ «-? of 
Getierdl Sessions 



City 



Counsel 













borne Climbcy! 



The Toastmaster: I am sorry to see that even in this 
class, capital is so timid. We have lost Brother Davison. I had 
hoped that with the appreciation given him in Queens County 
that we might hear from him. He was next in succession. 

Rarely does a class have combined in one man such posi- 
tions as have been held by Charles Whitman. He has occupied 
all, except making the law, and we would like very much to 
hear from him. 



Ex-Governor Whitman : I was somewhat interested in the 
suggestion ascribed to Brother Meighan that there are three 
kinds of lawyers. I want to add the suggestion that there may 
be four : Those who can appeal to the courts and juries, the 
greatest of all the lawyers, and those who cannot (using his 
definition — I am not altogether sure that it is altogether right, 
but it is pretty good authority) — those who cannot do that and 
Avho teach the law, and those who are not able to teach the 
lav/ who write the law. 

And there is a fourth class. If you cannot be the advo- 
cate, and if you cannot teach the law, and if you cannot write 
the law — you may, possibly, be Governor of the State. (Laugh- 
ter.) I cannot tell you how interested I am, as I know you 
all have been, each individually here to-night, in looking into 
the faces of the men whom we knew so well twenty-five years 
and more ago, many of whom we have seen from time to time 
and whose careers with great interest we have watched. And 
realizing, as I do, and as I know you do, if you stop to think 
of it for the moment, that the Class of '94 — and I think it 
was true at that time, I do not know whether it is true now or 
not — that most of the men in the Law School at the University 
of New York — that almost all of them in our class were finan- 
cially poor men. 

I believe that probably at that time there was not a law 
school of our size, or anything like it, of its age or of its stand- 
ing, or anything like its age or standing, where its students were 
to such a very large degree poor men. Financially poor, of 
course, I mean, because they were not poor men, as the work 

39 



which they have performed and the careers which they have 
carved out for themselves since have shown. 

I think most of our class, possibly with the exception of 
three or four, and I am not so sure that even with that excep- 
tion, were self-supporting when we were in the University. Many 
came to the University Law School notwithstanding its reputa- 
tion and its record and the character of the men who were 
teaching; many of them, most of us, came to the University 
Law School because the hours were such that we could make 
oui daily bread, that we could support ourselves and could 
at the same time, owing to the lateness of the hours of the day 
when the lectures were given, secure the education in the law 
which was requisite to admission to the bar at that time. 

And in the light of that fact — and I am not speaking per- 
sonally, because really when we call the roster of this class of 
'94 we like to think that our own class is a little better than 
an) other in the world — all down through the years the classes 
that have come from the University Law School, the members 
have distinguished themselves in the city. I do not mean owing 
to the chance or the fortuitous concomitants of circumstances, 
but as you look over the members of this class and that of the 
class that preceded and the class that immediately followed, 
because we knew most of the men in those three classes, their 
work has been good in this city; their service to the public 
has been good; their service to their clients has been good, 
and the bar of New York and the bench of New York, and, I 
believe, the public life of New York, has been better by the 
kind of men, by the men who were taught by these professors 
and others whom we remember with affection and regard and 
love during those years. 

I have been told — I have not examined the records — that 
more of the judges on the bench in these two departments have 
come from the University Law School than from all the other 
lav- schools in this country put together. (Applause.) 

Now, gentlemen, that is a very remarkable record. It would 
be a wonderful record for any school. And I believe that one 
reason for it has been the reason that I suggested at the start, 
that the personnel of the student body has been almost entirely 

40 




41 




42 



composed of men who had their own way to make, who knew 
the value of education, or else they would not have made the 
sacrifices necessary during the '90's and the years that followed. 

I have, in so far as I have been able — like all of the men 
here my life has been pretty well engrossed with professional 
and official work — followed the Law School and its work. Good 
as it was in our day, strong as the men in our day (notwith- 
standing that one of the men said to me to-night, "That is the 
man that taught you law," and the gentleman said, "That isn't 
possible") — notwithstanding the work that was done then, I be- 
lieve that the University Law School to-day is an infinitely bet- 
ter school than it was then. I believe that it is turning out to- 
day stronger and better trained lawyers than it did then. I 
believe, however, that the democracy of good-fellowship, the 
absolute level upon which we met in those days, has been main- 
tained, and I believe that it is due very largely to them that 
our Law School has turned out and is turning out the kind of 
men that are rendering the service to this community and are 
going to render it during the years to come. 

I want to express to our friend Judge Grossman — it is pretty 
hard to express it — to him who is afifectionately known to all of 
us as Moe Grossman — my own appreciation and my own grati- 
tude for the big thing he has done in getting the boys together, 
in bringing this class, after twenty-five years, together in such 
large numbers, for the very enjoyable, and, I believe, to us all, 
very advantageous occasion, this dinner; and I want to say, be- 
cause I know something of the work that he has done, that 
we are all of us indebted, not only to Moe — for great as has 
been his gift and the kindness which has been his — to our Toast- 
master, who has been working in season and out of season 
to find and round up the boys as no other man has been able 
to, all about the men, in whom we are all so interested and in 
whose concerns we are all profoundly and afifectionately con- 
cerned. I want to express my appreciation for the kindness which 
I myself feel and have felt all down through the years to mem- 
bers of this class — to Judge Rosalsky, who used to help us 
out on indictments that were a little bit shaky, and I wonder 
what would have happened, as I heard the story from my good 
friend in Westchester, if that ringer had been convicted. I think 

43 



it is quite possible that, notwithstanding his modesty, before that 
case came to trial that he did consult Moe Grossman. And 
these other men — Alfred Ommen, whose work on the Magistrate's 
bench was of such high order. Of course, Moe Grossman's 
career on the bench was somewhat short; I have a little sym- 
pathy for men that have not altogether been able to continue 
in the position to which they have been elevated. But I feel I am 
sure that Moe's services to the University and this class, and the 
A4!agistrate's Bench, and, sad as I am to acknowledge it, Moe's 
service to the political organization of which he is a member, 
is going to be soon recognized, as every member of this class 
hopes it will be recognized, and it won't be long before the 
"Judge" Grossman will again be true in fact as well as in his- 
tory. (Applause.) 



The Toastmaster : It began to be a habit of those who had 
been together after class in the Law School days of placing such 
odd bits of food as were not used in Theodore Hill's pocket. 

It was not oversight, it is not forgetfulness, but it was 
greatly to show our utter disregard of order and precedence 
that we have waited to hear from the man who was our Presi- 
dent at the time. Brother Hudson was our Class President 
and at that time he held the floor as well as the rostrum and 
was his own judge of the order of business. Consequently, it 
has been a very pleasant revenge to wait until this time to call 
upon Brother Hudson. I may say, in passing, that at great 
inconvenience he has come from the four corners of Missouri, 
Nebraska, Kansas and some other State to be here with us to- 
night, and although from Missouri we are going to reverse the 
tables and make him "show" us. 



Othniel Bruner Hudson : Toastmaster and Gentlemen of 
the Class of '94 — I was not expecting to make a speech to-night. I 
came here with the idea that I was "to be shown" and that you 
gentlemen would show me. It gives me great pleasure to meet 

44 




45 





46 



you again. You will realize my appreciation in being present 
on this occasion when I tell you that I came over 1500 miles to 
attend this banquet (applause), to shake hands with you whom 
I will still call boys and Judge Grossman (I am authorized from 
headquarters to call him "Moe"). 

When I received the invitation saying that Moe Grossman 
was giving this banquet, I said, "Whatever the sacrifice, what- 
ever the expense, I will be present." And I am here to-night. 

When I came to New York in 1892 I came from the coun- 
try. I had grown up in a little town in Missouri. On coming 
to New York I received a very cordial welcome, friendly greet- 
ing and kind treatment at the hands of the young men of New 
York, which I have always greatly appreciated and cherished 
up to the present time. 

You gentlemen, especially of New York, surrounded by all 
that exalts and embellishes civilized life, have advantages that I 
did not have. My parents were Western pioneers — I grew up 
in what you gentlemen would understand to be "The Wild West," 
where, as some man has said, "The rank thistle nodded in the 
wind and the wild fox dug his hole unscared" ; I grew up where 
the council fires glared on the wise and daring and where the 
Indian hunter loved and wooed his dusky maiden. I came to 
New York inexperienced, wild and woolly. The boys of the class 
of '94 treated me with great consideration and kindness, for 
which I have always been grateful. I have always felt par- 
ticularly thankful to many members of that class, Moses H. 
Grossman not the least among them. Dr. Andrews and the Chair- 
man of the meeting to-night were always kind to me, as were 
many other members of the class, and I remember them all with 
great kindness. Moses H. Grossman always gave me a warm 
"hand shake" and when I felt lonesome and often discouraged 
I always received encouragement from him. When it came to 
electing a Valedictorian, I said, first, last and all the time, "I will 
vote for Moses H. Grossman," and I did. I said, "Moses H. 
Grossman is not only industrious, is not only a hard student, he 
is above the ordinary man, and belongs to the class of men we 
know as geniuses." I have always had a warm feeling in my 
heart for Moses H. Grossman. 



47 



I want to say that I am not forgetting the delightful wit 
of Professor Russell. In my practice of the law in the West 
for the past twenty-five years I have many times taken occasion 
to quote from the charming wit of that gentlemen in the trial 
of my cases. I remember him with great kindness. 

Probably it is not immodest to state to you, gentlemen, that 
I cannot speak as the former speakers have spoken, who to- 
night gave their personal experiences that have taken place with 
each other, since our graduation, because I have been separated 
from you; the radius has been very great between us. I am 
what is known as a country lawyer. I live in the northwestern 
corner of Missouri and am practising law in Iowa, Nebraska, 
Kansas and Missouri. I live near where those four States 
corner. It is a very fertile country, the inhabitants generally are 
farmers and people living in small towns. Practising in the four 
States makes very hard digging many times, to keep up with 
the laws and often I get "run in" by a lawyer that is too shrewd 
for me, because I am not always acquainted with the particular 
practice. 

It has been my fortune to be a trial lawyer, having devoted 
myself entirely to trials; I have had reasonable success and re- 
sults have been fairly good. 

I want to express my thanks and appreciation in being able 
to be present and to address you gentlemen on this occasion. I 
am glad to see and meet you and to shake your hands once more. 
I regret that I am not able to say more of the individual member- 
ship of the class since we graduated, as you know I have been 
separated far from you. 

You gave me very great distinction and conferred upon me 
great honor in electing me President of the class, a distinction 
that has always been remembered with gratitude. I did the very 
best that I could for you under the circumstances and I want to 
thank you for another opportunity of addressing you this eve- 
ning, although I am entirely unprepared. 

It occurs to me that it is not a very good policy for a man 
from the country to undertake to address a delegation or asso- 
ciation of New York judges when laboring under the embarrass- 
ment and unpreparedness with which I am suffering to-night. 

48 




49 




50 



1 was not expecting to be called upon to address you and, in 
closing my remarks, I want to again thank you. (Applause.) 



The Toastmaster : It would be a very gratifying thing and 
a very pleasant occasion if we could have Judge MacLean to 
express just a few words. We are very fortunate indeed to 
have him with us to-night and I have included him in the roster 
of those present as if he were an alumnus of this class. He 
did go out of the Law School when we did and the Law School 
went with him and with us. Judge MacLean, may I ask you 
to say a few words ? 



Judge MacLean : The late Mr. Lester, friend of our gram- 
mar school days, had gifts. They were verbosity and garrulity 
and love of praise. He had to keep from praising himself by 
telling what swell acquaintances he had in the Homeric times. 
What a gratifying thing it would have been to have had an 
introduction like this ! 

The class of '94, of which I am proud to say I was a 
member by aggregation, has achieved quite a position in this 
big town which we call home. The exercises at its graduation 
by the President, which were contributed to by the President 
and by the Valedictorian, our hospitable host, were very much the 
same, so far as I recall, as the exercises that graced the depar- 
ture of other classes, in the advice given them, because men 
still young, like Professor Russell and Professor Jessup, Tomp- 
kins and myself, because I was characterized as "Professor," 
was all didactic. There was the injunction of Bacon, that every 
man was in duty boutld to contribute to his profession his own 
helpfulness and to be an ornament. 

The Historian and others who entertained us so much to- 
night have recounted various aspects of the practicality of that 
advice. It seems to me, sitting here, listening to what has been 
said, recalling the achievements of one after another, that this 
aggregation of clever, studious, ambitious, useful people should 



51 



be continued in some way, in some sort of sodality, that we 
contribute to the usefulness and uplift of the community wherein 
we dwell. Whether it is homely to say it, we are reconstructing, 
reconstituting many things. Whether it is commonplace to add, 
we are facing somewhat of a new era, and it would seem as 
if the members of this distinguished class might resolve them- 
selves into a sodality, with perhaps our friend from Missouri 
(and I remember well when I was a little missionary in Mis- 
souri, having a great deal to do with a Mr. Hudson from Jack- 
son), and our friend, the Valedictorian of those days, as the 
officers, and we might take up this sodality, might take up the 
reform, although reform for forty-five years has been a hectic 
phase, but we might take up the betterment of this community 
and its elevation by disabusing the public of many of the con- 
ceits and prejudices which are entertained among us. We are 
doing so much by the setting down of kings and the putting up 
of new persons that we might well show to our people at home 
that there is more liberty in some of the countries abroad than 
we have; that before the war there was more liberty, more 
personal liberty, in certain respects, on the Continent than we 
have known; that the rude remedy of arrest to which we resort 
so freely was not practised in the way in which we practise it, 
even in Russia; that persons in Germany had a degree of per- 
sonal liberty which we, even our friend Judge Rosalsky who 
has gone on the Bench where he presides, would be surprised at 
the practice in this country; that a person who is convicted, in- 
stead of immediately on the pronouncement of the verdict, having 
a handcuff slipped upon his wrists and being taken away, has, in 
Germany, several days in which to arrange his affairs and effects, 
before he is committed to prison ; that persons have a great liberty 
of public statement without adverting so much to Dame Grundy. 

If these things are so, and I am quite sure that persons 
who look it up will find they are so — why should we not have 
something of that personal liberty which is so well known on 
the Continent and which we do not have? 

It seems to me that while our statutes and traditions pro- 
vide that a person who is arrested is entitled to a prompt trial, 
it seems to me that we should introduce here something of the 
French procedure and of the German procedure, that a Magis- 

52 




HEARING- 



SB 




54 



trate sit long hours, that a case where a person is arrested be 
heard promptly, that if a man is discharged there be no record of 
his trial, no record of his arrest. (Applause.) 

In this town of ours it would seem that a large percentage 
of the arrests are unwarranted; about 40 per cent, of the per- 
sons brought before the Magistrates are discharged without any 
trial. It would seem that that hearing and discharge should be 
had immediately upon arrest. To that end we should have, in 
my opinion we should have the courts and the station houses 
in the same building, or in contiguity, so that a person should 
be heard in turn or discharged at once. We should have nothing 
of this taking of persons through the streets, persons who are 
arrested in the afternoon, confined until the next morning and 
then taken before a magistrate through a crowd of gaping 
youngsters and women and men — which is a very humiliating and 
disgraceful thing. 

The members of this class of '94, set at liberty to earn 
their own living, set at liberty to represent the public, who 
have had so much experience in public life and private asso- 
ciation, if they gathered together in this country, where organ- 
ization, either political, social or for demagogic purposes, has so 
much influence, might accomplish something which would add 
even to their reputation and renown. 

To our hospitable host, whom I have known so many years, 
whom I have seen so often in private life and in the forum 
where I have been a bystander, or by-sitter, it gives me sincere 
gratification to pay my respectful and admiring tribute of re- 
gard. It was certainly a felicitous thing, a felicitous inspiration, 
that prompted you to call us together and give us the gratifica- 
tion and the satisfaction of this informal gathering, and, sir, 
we wish you well. (Loud applause.) 



The Toastmaster : Fellow Classmates — May I express your 
appreciation, enjoyment and gratification that Judge MacLean 
has so excellently favored us in his remarks, and let us adopt 
one suggestion of his at once and accept his nominations for 

55 



officers, and all those in favor of O. B. Hudson for President 
and Moses Grossman as Valedictorian say "Aye." 

(Unanimously elected accordingly.) 

Judge, the movement is started, and those gentlemen are 
hereby declared elected without any dissenting voice. 

Professor Russell — it seems he is not quite finished with 
the notes he has been making, so if Mr. Armstrong will make 
a few of his. Professor Russell will be ready as soon as he is 
finished. 



(Then followed songs by Mr. Harry Armstrong.) 



Professor Russell : I cannot tell you how rich in memory 
I feel, and you can understand, having heard so much about 
the class of '94, when I tell you that I know thirty-eight such 
classes. Not all of them have won such distinction as you have. 
You have here among your membership one man who has been 
Judge of the Supreme Court. I think I had the honor of in- 
troducing him to the lady he married. A man whom I never 
forget because my wife never lets me forget. The fellow I am 
looking at — four years governor of this State. I am glad he 
never forgets — and I got on the payroll for a great many years. 

It is the professor of law who is the rich man in these days — • 
rich in the afifection he has himself and the affection he feels 
others have for him. These are the days when the pedagogue 
is coming into his own. He is not only coming, he has arrived. 
It is from the pedagogue that we get our fourteen points. 
(Laughter.) 

We have him at Washington — or, at least, he is coming to 
Washington. And among those are men who, like Tompkins, 
Bostwick, Norton, Lippincott, Jessup and innumerable others, 
have done each his turn. If I had my life to live over again, 
I think I would rather live in the age in which I live, and in 
the city in which I live, and doing the work which has been 
appointed me to do the last thirty-eight years in the Law School 
of the University. 

56 



(^ rr- ^r ^■^JT ~r 




57 




58 



George Bernard Shaw says, I think, that he who can does 
and he who cannot teaches. I heard this expression a Httle 
different way when I was down in Old Point Comfort over two 
years ago with Andrew Carnegie and a few friends of mine 
from the Millionaires' Club. I met down there a fellow, and 
he says, "Russell, I'm in a hole." That's not his exact lan- 
guage, but that was his drift. I said, "What's the matter with 
you?" He says, "This nigger, Booker T. Washington, is here 
and I don't know how to address him, because I can't call him 
'Booker,' because he isn't a slave, don't you know. And I can't 
call him Mr. Washington, for that would recognize him as a 
gentleman and my social equal. But I want to make him feel 
good and at the same time remind him of his position ; so I made 
up my mind to call him Professor." (Laughter.) 

Now I am rather proud of being Professor. It is historic 
that Cleveland lectured on the Constitution at Princeton Uni- 
versity — or what was left of the Constitution after his Attorney- 
General got through with it. And it is historic that old man 
Benjamin Harrison lectured on the Constitution. He wanted 
his daughter to graduate and he got 50,000 girls and a lot of 
money and he went out for all there was in it — love and money. 
I read those lectures myself in the Ladies' Home Journal. 
(Taughter.) I used to read his articles, and my wife did, and 
I used to read what Ruth Ashton said about "Seven Ways to 
Eat a Sandwich and How to Behave in Good Society," and 
whether it was right for a man to stroll through the woods and 
for the lady to take his arm, and Ruth Ashton said it was all 
right so long as they kept on walking. 

I bought them all in single book form, a dollar and a quar- 
ter, and refer to it now and then, and when Moe Grossman, 
a great champion of personal liberty, raises any constitutional 
question before me or some other court — (Laughter.) 

Then there is the big question we have of what we are go- 
ing to do with our ex-Presidents. Now, it is a very important 
question and I think it is well settled that the best thing to 
do with them is to make them professors of law. If Taft had 
gone into the patent medicine business we would all have felt 
sick, but he went back to a great university. We all felt he 
added lustre to ancestral fame. His father was a graduate at 



59 



Yale and Attorney-General in the cabinet of Grant. I feel 
myself that I am adding two cubits to my stature when I am 
able to associate with him. I was up there last year. I took 
a ride in a trolley with him, and an Italian girl came in with 
a cloak on her head, and I got up gallantly and, reproducing 
Sir Walter Raleigh's elegant manner, I said, "Madam, allow me," 
and gave "her my seat. And he, not to be outdone by any man 
in the city and county of New York, stood up and gave his 
seat to three girls. 

I cannot indulge in reminiscences because I know every 
one here. I have run the gamut of this distinction that comes 
to men who live in libraries, alcoves and in the shadows of halls 
of learning, and I had the fate which comes to most men who 
write books. I remember, in the Appellate Term over in Brook- 
lyn, I was crossing swords with one of my students on a ques- 
tion of damages, and he cited two cases, and the Presiding Judge 
said, "Counsel, what book is this you are quoting from?" — a 
little red book worth about fifty cents. And he said, "This book 
is written by the Chief Judge of the Court of Special Sessions 
and quotes a contrary doctrine to that which he is supporting 
in this appeal." (Laughter.) 

When any one of my students now puts in a notice of 
appearance against me, I generally pay the costs and discontinue. 
( Laughter. ) 

Now, Whitman, I am very proud to remember him. My 
wife will never let me forget him, because he came over and 
spoke to our Sunday school people in Brooklyn. I feel as if 
T am entitled to a large debt of gratitude. For while he passed 
with, I think, 95 per cent., he was set down as flunking, because 
he was almost uniformly late at the University. It was referred 
to me as authority and as the secretary of the faculty, and I 
found he was teaching a large number of girls over there in 
Adelphi Academy Latin, and he came in at ten minutes past 
four, whereas the monitor appeared at five minutes past, and 
I thus reported to the faculty and we enrolled him, to my great 
satisfaction, among those to whom we have given our highest 
honor. 

I want to tell you that it is a great pleasure to me to be 
here. I want to tell you what I am sure you feel, that the 

60 







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^l jg| i g,-a.-^ r »,^^..^ -t , >^ .> S \A\ U^f'i^x .^ !;.> ' ^V^'^!i ^ 5 ^ V?iS!ll'^^SQ ^^ 




61 



so ^ 



A:^fi:iVer*sar 




62 



greatest and only reward of a professor is that which goes to 
those who study under us. I cannot help but feel almost every 
day as the years accumulate that it is the graduates of every 
university that make the reputation of that university. One 
man served for many years as justice of the Supreme Court 
and served a full term as United States senator and passed the 
next best bar examination to Elihu Root. The State of New 
York had two representatives in the United States Senate, 
both graduates of this law school. And I think that for a 
great many years, without a break, classes which graduate from 
this University turned out some very great judges. One class 
has turned out at least two judges of the Supreme Court of 
this state. 

I thank you for the opportunity of looking into your faces. 
I never would be able to take my seat if I indulged in personal 
reminiscences, because, as I said, I am personally and intimately 
well acquainted with every individual that is here present. I 
am delighted to think that Brother Grossman is receiving such 
just eulogy for what he has done. It occurs to me also to say 
one other thing, Brother Whitman, and that is this, that we 
have reached the times when a large number of men are declin- 
ing judicial honors, and I am about ready to wonder whether 
Judge Rosalsky really furnishes the proper opportunity for brains 
and talent of the very highest order. (Laughter.) 

We have Alton B. Parker and Moses H. Grossman resign- 
ing the great post of judge for the higher and freer opportunity 
which the bar affords, and in this I take some measure of sat- 
isfaction. 

I am glad to know that you have organized on a personal 
basis. I sincerely hope that you will continue this gracious and 
delightful and charming hospitality and the precedent that has 
been established here will prevail for a great many years and 
that all of you will live to gather here from year to year for, 
perhaps, the 50th anniversary, a large and noble remnant of 
the Class of '9-1, ready to think pleasantly and happily and lov- 
ingly and profoundly of those to whom you were indebted for 
your first introduction into the mysteries of the law. I thank 
you. (Applause.) 

63 



The Toastmaster: It is not intended to discriminate 
or to preach. We waited twenty-five years to hear the sound 
of the voice of each one of us, and if anyone is moved to speak 
he need but raise his hand, and I will ask Mr. Armstrong mean- 
while to give us a little song of cheer to sort of stimulate the 
hearts and spirits again. 



Mr. Armstrong then played and led in the singing of old- 
time songs. 



The Toastmaster: Mr. Warren Leslie would like to pro- 
pose to us something which would be an appropriate recollec- 
tion on this occasion. We have not with us those who formerly 
composed our class, but only a good majority, and it is to those 
who composed the minority that we wish to rise and appre- 
ciate the remarks that Warren Leslie will make. (All arose.) 



Mr. Leslie : Fellow-classmates, it struck me that we could 
not suffer this occasion to pass without having our memories go 
back in love and veneration for that grand old patriarch, Austin 
Abbott, and that wonderful gentlemen, Professor Tiedemann, and 
for the boys of our class who have passed to the land beyond 
the tomb. I ask you to drink a silent toast to the memory of 
those great men and those good comrades, and may the blessing 
of God, the Father, rest upon their shoulders. 

Now, as a fitting climax, as an attestation for the love and 
affection of the surviving professors of the school, I drink, and 
ask you to join me, in their long life and success, in three cheers, 
for Jessup, Russell, Bostwick and Tompkins. 

(Three rousing cheers were then given for Professors Jessup, 
Russell, Bostwick and Tompkins.) 



64 




65 



Jhe current 
<f a '^J^reaf 
^earfmferesf 

6 

^urnec/ 




Jhe arfisfs way of sayrrr^g*- 

y/es a most dynamic liffle fellow-^ 



66 



The Toastmaster: It is pleasant to think that we are all 
present in spirit or in flesh to pay tribute to this occasion and 
I wish to give this opportunity to our host to say what is in his 
heart to us all, and I will not sit down without expressing my 
personal gratification and delight in whatever service I have been 
in connection with him in getting these men here to-night, for 
it has been an inspiration and a great opportunity to work with 
a man who has been so whole-souled in such an enterprise : Moses 
H. Grossman. 

Judge Grossman : Boys, I want first of all to thank you for 
having come. Never in all my life have I felt the throbs and 
thrills coursing through my veins that I have felt to-night. Life 
is made up of throbs and thrills — nothing more. We may pursue 
the phantoms called glory, power, fame, wealth, social status; 
but they are ephemeral and transitory and fade away like morn- 
ing mist before the rising sun. 

But give me love, give me friendship, that kind of love and 
friendship that I have always gotten from you, my boyhood 
friends, my classmates, my college professors, and I will sur- 
render to you all the power, all the wealth, all the position I 
have ever attained. 

They may be taken from me, or I may voluntarily yield 
them, but no one can deprive me of that love, affection, respect 
and esteem which is mine and which I hope you will give me 
to my dying day. 

The witching hour of midnight is at hand. I have so much 
to say to you that a great deal of it must be passed by for the 
nonce. 

I enjoyed particularly professor and ex-Judge MacLean's 
observations on personal liberty. And right here I want to say 
that I never enjoyed so much the trials in which it was my priv- 
ilege to participate, as when he was judge of the Supreme Court. 
I remember very well having been retained to defend a man 
who was the editor of a Greek newspaper. He had published 
a libel on a professor in the Alma Mater of Governor Whitman. 
It was a very serious question whether a jury would not give a 
substantial verdict in favor of the professor. In order to prepare 
for the trial, I made a study of modern Greek in order properly 
to equip myself, and what was my amazement, when entering 

67 



upon the trial, to find that the judge, — my dear old Professor, 
Judge MacLean, — was thoroughly conversant in modern Greek. 
We, of course, had all of the dictionaries and lexicons; we had 
Mr. Sprague, the president of the Union Dime Savings Bank, 
who understood modern Greek. We had offered them $5,000 
to settle before the trial started, but we succeeded in getting a 
verdict for the defendant. 

And right here I want to pay my tribute of regard and esteem 
not merely to Judge MacLean, but to Judge Rosalsky, to Judge 
Whitman, to District Attorney Bostwick, to District Attorney 
Tompkins, to Chief Justice Russell, to those of our former col- 
lege professors and classmates who have held judicial office. 
Never in all my experience have I upon a single occasion found 
any cause for criticism either in their attitude towards me or in 
their attitude towards any member of the bar with whom I am 
acquainted, but these judges always gave impartial, careful, 
painstaking consideration to every case and to every question of 
law presented. 

There was a case came up at the court of Special Sessions 
when Chief Judge Russell sat, in which I raised a constitutional 
question with reference to a statute whose constitutionality had 
never been impugned or impeached. It was a serious question, 
I thought, and I found our astute, erudite, versatile Chief Jus- 
tice poring over the cases presented by the District Attor- 
ney's brief and my own before he was persuaded to send for 
me and say, "Well, Judge, don't you think this is a pretty good 
statute?" I said, "Yes, I think it is; I think it serves a fine 
public purpose." "Well, your client is a first offender and en- 
joys a good reputation. We will suspend sentence in that case." 
I said, "My interest is not to destroy the efficacy of the statute 
but to protect the interests of my client," with the result that 
the constitutional question was waived and my client went scot 
free. 

Judge MacLean hit the proper keynote when he said it is 
a lawyer's business to do constructive work, to do that kind 
of work which survives him when he is dead. Now, it is 
easy enough to get a verdict from a jury, but it is ofttimes un- 
satisfactory. I remember very early in my career when a case 
came into our office in which a man was charged with assault upon 

68 




4*?:^4>i 



Special ewti^aivce 
Judicial" Meml>£M 

o-f 




69 






70 



a woman. He was sued for $50,000. Evarts, Choate & Beaman 
and Davies, Stone & Auerbach appeared for the plaintiff, and 
we appeared for the defendant. I had just been graduated from 
law school and my partner, Judge House, was retained to de- 
fend the action. It was such an outrageous case that he offered 
to settle for, I think, $7500, which Davies, Stone & Auer- 
bach properly rejected. Then he came to me and said, "I won't 
try this case ; I have no heart in it, Moe, and I want you to try 
it." I said, "Mr. House, I will try this case, if you want me to; 
I am a soldier in the ranks, but I feel that if you can't win the 
case, I certainly cannot." He said, "No one can save a verdict ; 
hold the damages down as low as you can." 

I went in and tried that case. For three days I sweated 
blood. The jury was aching to bring in a verdict for the full 
amount. An untoward circumstance on the fourth day— the fact 
that the plaintiff called as a witness a relative who really did 
not see the assault, and the fact that I was able to uncover his 
perjury— persuaded Judge Dugro, who presided at the trial, and 
the jury, to feel that perhaps the entire case was a manufactured 
case, and there was a verdict for the defendant. 

'l walked over to my office. Fred House came in and said, 
"What is the verdict?" "Oh," I said, "nothing." He said, 
"How much was it?" I said, "Nothing at all." He said, "Don't 
get excited about it." I replied, "I told you it was nothmg." He 
said, "You don't mean a verdict for the defendant!" I said, 
"Yes." And in came the defendant and said, "I congratulate 
I said, "Don't congratulate me; this is a perversion of 



vou. 



justice." 

Well, it taught me a very great lesson. It made an m- 
delible impression upon my mind and I determined not to pros- 
titute mv talent, my ability, whatever their limitations might be, 
for money. And when he asked me to bring an action upon the 
bond, he having been arrested at the commencement of the action, 

I declined to do it. 

No, it is easy enough to win a verdict from a jury, if you 
are favored by circumstances or if you are abler than your ad- 
versary, because human law and procedure are imperfect. It is 
not perfect like divine law ; we are striving, but can't make it 
perfect. But when you endeavor, as Judge MacLean would have 

71 



it, to serve and effectuate and protect personal liberty, you are 
doing something real. 

Now, I came across a case in which Dr. John H. Finley, 
president of the City College and ex-Commissioner of Education, 
wa.s deeply interested. A City College student was indicted for 
murder. The judge discharged the jury after he thought they 
had deliberated long enough and the lawyer for the defendant 
felt that an injustice had been done. But the case was again set 
for trial and he feared to enter upon the second trial because of 
the danger of conviction. When he told me these facts I said to 
the lawyer, an ex-Judge, who was counsel for the defendant, 
"Don't worry about this case ; your client is out." He said, "What 
do you mean ?" I said, "The Court had no right to discharge the 
jury without their request." I said, "You issue a writ of habeas 
corpus." He consulted a friend of mine, a very eminent lawyer, 
who scoffed at the habeas corpus. When he told me of that, I 
said, "Well, you will either issue that writ or I will." He said, 
"What is your interest in it? I myself am only assigned to this 
case." I answered, "I want to establish a principle in support of 
personal liberty. I want to demonstrate that no judge has a right 
to disturb the deliberations of a jury until that jury declare 
themselves unable to agree, for as long as they are willing to 
remain in consultation it is beyond the power of any judge to 
disturb them." 

Charlie Whitman was District Attorney. He was advised of 
the writ and came into court to oppose it. We battled over it. 
But the Court of Appeals declared that that man could not be 
tried again. Now, he was a poor boy. He had nothing, few 
friends besides Dr. Finley, who was keenly interested. 

But there was a doctrine involving personal liberty which was 
established and which will survive me when I am dead, and no 
matter how honest the judges of our criminal courts have been — 
and they are honest, able men — I felt that there ought to be 
estabhshed a landmark in the jurisprudence of this common- 
wealth which would make the sanctity and sacredness of the jury 
box so great as to put it beyond the power of a judge or gover- 
nor or president to interfere with it. 

That, I feel, was an accomplishment. And I am prouder of 
that little service, which cost me time and effort and money and 

72 




© ET TE^ W TOy YQ 




73 



ELECTION BOOTH 

voTes T^oQ. 
VALE-DICTORlAlS 

CLA« '94 



^(0 



l« 




74 



energy, than I am of title, position, power or wealth, because 
it will redound to the advantage of my human brothers not only 
while I live but long after I am dead. That, I say to you boys, 
is the real work of a lawyer, the most unselfish, the most satisfy- 
ing of all things. 

And when I think of the judicial opinions of Otto Rosalsky, 
conceded to be the peer of any man who ever sat upon the 
Court of General Sessions; when I think of the constructive 
work of Charlie Whitman as Judge and as Governor, than whom 
no man who occupied that office ever strove harder to satisfy 
the interests of the people whom he governed, I feel proud that 
they were my classmates twenty-five years ago. 

Boys, you did elect me class Valedictorian. There was 
some politics involved in our class elections. But I want to 
say, aside from the fact that they resulted in my attainment of 
the high honor which you accorded me, that they also taught 
Charlie Whitman and Otto Rosalsky those intricacies of true 
politics which ultimately resulted in placing them in the high 
positions which they afterwards occupied. (Laughter.) And 
if I had any participation in their education and instruction po- 
litically, I feel amply compensated for any effort I may have 
made at that time. 

The highest quality of any human being, I told you, is love. 
And coupled with love, a necessary ingredient is loyalty, and 
another is gratitude, both of which qualities are akin to love. 
I just want you to say of me, not so much that I am a great 
lawyer or a good fellow or a successful man, as to say of 
me, "He is loyal, and he is grateful." And I want to improve 
this opportunity to tell you how grateful I am for your having 
elected me as class Valedictorian, and I hope that I discharged 
my functions upon that occasion, twenty-five years ago, to your 
entire satisfaction. 

But when I think of Hudson, our class President, coming 
fifteen hundred miles to attend this function, when I think of 
Mattern and Stoddard and those other boys who have come miles 
and miles to be here to-night at all kinds of inconvenience, is it 
surprising that I should be loyal when I have these exemplars of 
loyalty to emulate? 

75 



Now, in that spirit of loyalty and of friendship, I never 
considered the Republicanism of Judge Rosalsky or Governor 
Whitman; I considered always my friendship for them; and no 
politics, nothing on the face of God's green footstool, could ever 
constitute an obstruction between them and me because of the 
love and loyalty I bore them, the same love and loyalty that I 
bear to each of you and will bear for you until the end of my 
days. 

It must be a source of great pleasure to Judge MacLean, to 
Professor Russell, to Professor Bostwick, to Professor Jessup, 
to Professor Tompkins, to all of the living members of our Fac- 
ulty, to look over this room and see how their boys have risen 
to power, to standing in the community, and how they have 
won the respect and esteem of their fellow-men. Because, with- 
out their aid, without their advice, in the absence of the guidance 
which they gave us, none of these things could ever have been 
achieved. 

It is not the cases they taught us. It is not even the legal 
principles which they impressed upon our minds. It is the love 
of liberty, it is those eternal things to which Judge MacLean 
referred, that made us what we are. 

What a wonderful thing it is that here to-night, after a quar- 
ter of a century has gone by, it is our privilege to be together, 
to bask in the sunlight of each other's smiles, to renew and 
revive those feelings of attachment which were ours in the old 
days when we did not feel the heavy weight of responsibility 
cast upon us by the commonwealth in the discharge of public 
duties and in the performance of our functions as members 
of the bar! 

When we think of poor Brother Lester, whose wife is blind 
and paralyzed; when we think of Billie Barr, that fine, genial, 
noble character, who has gone to the other shore, of all the boys 
whom we esteemed and loved but who are no longer with us, 
how grateful we should be that this night has been given us to 
enjoy each other's companionship without stint or limit ! 

The observation was made by Governor Whitman that most 
of us boys who were struggling to obtain a knowledge of legal 
principles were poor — as he was, as Judge Rosalsky was. Yes, 
it is true. Very few, if any, of us were born with silver spoons 

76 




77 




78 



in our mouths, but early in life we had to carve out our own 
careers and had the responsibility of supporting others, besides 
ourselves, cast upon us. Now, among those boys the strongest 
friendships are formed. 

Let me illustrate. Fred Czaki, here to my right, went 
out and got me my first full dress suit. I had to have one for 
Commencement night and he went out and got it for me. And 
when the night was over and we were all happy, and Frank Hola- 
han, who has gone, congratulated me upon the result, we three 
boys were taken in a cab up to Fred Czaki's house. Well, it was 
the first glimpse I had of real splendor when I saw his home; 
everybody in a dress suit and a magnificent dinner served and the 
polished floors and music and dancing — I confess it was a revela- 
tion to me. And when, seven years later, I met the girl that I af- 
terwards took to my bosom and made my wife, the mother of my 
daughter, Ethel, now sixteen years of age, and my boy, William, 
now eleven, Fred was my best man. He put his name to my 
marriage certificate. And I am proud of the friendship that was 
formed at the University Law School in the class of '94; proud 
of meeting Frederick Manning Czaki and calling him my friend. 

Boys, I have so much to say to you that I think I had 
better close my remarks now, or I would keep you too long. I 
only want to say that, without intending to burden you in any 
way and having these meetings too frequently, may I suggest 
that every five years you come and be my guests at similar gath- 
erings and that these meetings go on and on until there are just 
five of us left. I may precede many of you. And if I do, won't 
you please go right on and have these meetings every five years? 
And may the last five of you, following dear Warren's example, 
raise your glasses and think of the boys who preceded you, 
knowing that that love which they always bore you can never 
be dimmed by time and will live through all eternity. (Long and 
sustained applause.) 



79 



The men then sang "Auld Lang Syne" and the dinner was 



at an 




ejrv 



d 



'Long, long be my heart with such memories fiU'd ! 
Like the vase, in which roses have once been distilled. 
You may break, you may shatter the vase if you will, 
But the scent of the roses will cling round it still." 

Moore. 




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019 653 251 1 



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